MAX Go debuts to bring Cinemax to iPhone and Android

HBO has rolled out MAX Go for mobile devices as part of a TV Everywhere partnership with its pay-TV operator partners.

The app functions in the same way as the well-received HBO Go app, offering 700 hours of Cinemax programming on Apple iOS devices and a few Android smartphones to subscribers who sign in with their cable, satellite or IPTV credentials.

Subscribers to AT&T U-Verse, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, DirecTV, Dish Network, Suddenlink Communications or Verizon FiOS are eligible to use the app, which is a free download in the App Store and the Android Market.

Content-wise, Cinemax is providing access to most of its programming, movies, and MAX After Dark in particular. But it's also using the app to bolster interest in its first original primetime series, Strike Back, making both the debut episode available on demand after it airs on Friday as well as the second episode, so viewers can see what happens a full week before it airs on the broadcast network.

HBO Go employed the same strategy with True Blood and Game of Thrones this season.

"Now MAX Go is even more portable and flexible than ever with the MAX Go app," HBO co-president Eric Kessler said in a statement. "Consumers will be able to watch the full suite of Cinemax's offerings and catch every action-packed moment of their favourite Cinemax movies and series anywhere they go."

However, not all Cinemax subscribers can use the app; Comcast customers can't use MAX Go but can view Cinemax online at the Xfinity TV Website, while Time Warner Cable and Cablevision customers are out of luck completely.